Quench not the Spirit
Category: Holy Spirit
Key Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Would you turn in your Bibles to the book of Thessalonica? I want to say that, but it’s not. First Thessalonians, chapter number five. And you’ve probably did these things, but I’ll never forget witnessing to a man, and I think you’d had a few to drink.
He said, “Oh, I’ve read the Bible. I’ve read the Bible. I’ve read the Bible.” And I said, “Oh, you have? Did you read the book of Hezekiah?” “Oh, yeah, I’ve read it all.” I said, “Well, that’s interesting. There’s not a book of the Bible, Hezekiah, you know.” And so I almost said the book of Thessaloniki, and there’s no book in the Bible, Thessaloniki, you know. But First Thessalonians, chapter number five, in God’s Word. And verse—just one verse. Four words in verse number 19.
First Thessalonians, chapter number five, verse number 19 of God’s Word. And you say, “Man, only four words!” And the preacher preaches only four hours and four words. You know, come on.
First Thessalonians 5 and verse number 19 of God’s Word. And the Bible simply says, “Quench not the Spirit.” Would you read that verse out loud with me, please? Here we go: “Quench not the Spirit.” Why God says so much in those four words. One more time, would you please? Here we go: “Quench not.”
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer as we get started tonight. Dear Father, Lord, I believe the best I know, You’ve led this way. And Lord, of course, You know better than me. I want to preach You and say what You want said. So, Lord, all the things You have in mind for us to preach on this subject, Lord, I pray that You would accomplish them tonight. And, Father, give us Your mind, Your vision. Lord, I pray that we would—we don’t want to quench You and Your working. Lord, I pray that there would be a fire that would continue to burn and grow even brighter and stronger at Your church here, Lord.
Father, would You use tonight to that end, Lord, please? Father, help me to properly convey Your Word and the thoughts You’ve given me. And, Lord, well, thank You for what You do. Father, we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. It seems that the Lord has just begun to maybe blow, if you will, across our church in a greater way since our tent revival, tent service. It just seemed like the Lord moved in that day. It just did a special work in our church. And it seems since then maybe the wind’s blowing again, if you will. It’s not any person; it’s the Lord doing it.
I think about that day, a lady and her nephews, and she brought some other friends who used to go to our church. They moved down to Shelbyville, or Shovel, as they call it, you know—it’s according to who you talk to, you know. And they moved down to Shelbyville. They came that Sunday; they had no idea it was a special Sunday. They hadn’t been in our church in years, and they just drove up perchance and were here that day. It just seemed a little bit, Lord, saying, “Hey, nobody was involved in that except Me. I’m working here a little bit.” Miss Tammy just happened to be sitting by a lady that’s—oh, I think Lutheran, Episcopalian—I think Lutheran. And afterwards, she got saved. But Ms. Tammy said, all during the service, she was just groaning, just groaning, just groaning. God was working in her heart.
It just seemed like the Lord’s kind of stirring things. It’s a blessing when God’s working, not us. A man can’t accomplish much at all; the Lord does the work. But it’s a blessing to kind of see God work in lives here recently. I had a man come by my office this week with tears in his eyes. He said, “God’s changed my life in the last three weeks.” And he said, “God’s shown me—I can’t do anything with that.” He hadn’t been in church in years. And he said, “It’s exciting to have God working in my life again,” with tears, he said that. And he’s back again this morning, and there had been issues with him. It’s just exciting to see God work in life. And I praise the Lord for that. What a blessing it is to see God stir and God move, God work.
I was visiting some people yesterday who have been visiting our church. And it’s a blessing—I haven’t heard this in Ohio—and I went by the house, and they said, “Man, we can’t wait to get back to church. We’re excited about it. We’re looking forward to being in there.” It’s just a blessing to see the Lord working. There are several people in the hospital this week, and they said, “You know, the Lord—the only reason why I’m still here is the Lord.” And even one was in church this morning. I was shocked he was out of the hospital, but he was in church this morning. That’s the Lord doing those things. And it’s just exciting to see God work. People joined the church here recently, and other people—speaking of joining the church—several different ones, and it’s just exciting for God to be working in hearts and lives.
We’ve had a man visiting here recently—in the past, a hardened man, one of our men of our church. Really, God’s using him to get him into church. His wife passed not too long ago, and his little bit was hardened over that thing. A man of our church was speaking to him a old months ago. He said, “How many days did God use to create the earth?” And he said, “Six.” “What did He do on the seventh day?” “He rested.” And he said, “Well, so God needed to rest.” And that’s why he was, months ago, just hardened. And I had the privilege of going by there this week, and God softened his heart. And God’s working on his heart. And he said, “If you don’t mind, if you don’t mind, I’ll be coming to the church there.” And I said, “Boy, we don’t mind! Praise the Lord, you’re coming!” I mean, from that to now—“Would you mind if I come to the church?” Pray for that. That’s God. Only God can do these things. And I’m just saying it’s a blessing to see God stir and God move and God change lives and God working in life. Only the Lord can do those things. Only the Lord.
I think of the man that got baptized up the river when we had the baptism service. I began to witness to him that Saturday before, and he said, “Boy, I feel a lot of resistance right now.” And the devil was resisting, but the Lord was working in him. He bowed his head that day and asked the Lord to save him. I was so thankful at the baptism service up the river. A man, he said, “I don’t mind; I’ll be baptized first.” I like that—a man leading in that. It’s just exciting to see God work.
This thought’s been on my mind, my heart here recently. The illustration I think of that illustrates that well: when we were young, we lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We lived in a trailer behind Indian Springs Baptist Church. And the trailer—the furnace didn’t always work well. And often, if it wasn’t running all day or a lot during the day, the pilot light would go out. Remember back in the days when you had to keep the pilot light lit and things, you know?
As it began to get a little bit colder and we were going to light the furnace at nighttime, Dad would take a newspaper and wad it up, make it long. Some of you are saying, “Yeah, I remember those days.” He’d light that newspaper and stick it in that furnace to get it burning and get the pilot light lit and everything.
Then, back there, he’d have the back door open. He’d run over to the back door and throw that newspaper out there. Now, us kids knew what was going to happen. We already had pine needles raked up. Brother Warren’s like, “Oh, my goodness,” you know. We only caught the woods behind that house on fire one time. Only one time, that’s all. But we had pine needles and paper, whatever—we had it all gathered up. And when Dad would throw that newspaper out the back door, man, we were on it! We had our pine needles putting on there, and our leaves putting on there, and any paper you can find.
Have you ever blown on a fire so long you feel like you’re about to pass out? Don’t talk about it. I mean, because that fire would go out on the newspaper, and sometimes it was just kind of—it was red and glowing embers, but it wasn’t really on fire. So, man, we were there to try to protect that fire. He’d get a little fire going. We had many a fire behind that trailer as kids from that newspaper getting thrown out there.
Now, here’s the thing: It seems like the Lord is working, and I’m very grateful. Nobody else can do it; that’s the Lord doing those things. But in my heart, I would like us just to say, “Hey, we would like to protect the fire.”
I like to continue to see people’s lives changed. I like to see more of that. Anybody out there who likes to see that? Yeah, I like to see more men say, “I’ll get baptized. I’ll represent the Lord Jesus Christ.” Wouldn’t you like to see more of that, amen? Amen. It is a blessing just to hear people saying, “I mean,” instead of saying, “You know, what God do? Why did God have to rest?” Isn’t it a blessing to hear them now say, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’ll come to that church”? Amen, I like that right there. Now, I’m saying it just seemed like God’s moving. He has been, but even more, I like to protect the fire a little bit. Y’all with me tonight?
Now the scripture here says, “Quench not the Spirit”—the fire. It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit can melt a hardened heart. That’s the fire. That’s the Spirit of God that does that. It’s the Spirit of God that changes lives and draws us out of somebody’s life. The Spirit of God does that. But here’s an amazing thing: we, born-again Christians, we can quench the Spirit. I don’t want to. I don’t want to get in the way of what God’s doing. I don’t want to quench the Spirit of God in what He is doing. I’m awfully thankful. And my old flesh can get in the way. I can quench the Spirit. And Satan—boy, when he sees a fire starting to get a little bit strong, a little bit brighter, and the Spirit working more, don’t you know Satan is ready just to pour some water on that fire? And he’s looking at every little angle of how he can do that.
So let’s just very briefly—let’s talk about some ways that we, unfortunately myself, sometimes quench the Spirit. I don’t protect the fire a lot of. Let me give you four ways to quench the fire, the Spirit, if you will.
Number one: Pride. I believe—I said this for years—but I believe the greatest hindrance to revival in America is pride. Pride. You’re not going to have a lot of pride and a lot of the Spirit of God working at the same time. And if we’re going to protect this fire, we’ve got to be careful about this thing of pride. You know what the middle letter of pride is? “I.” And I’m not down on us, but I’m excited about what God’s doing. I love for God to continue to work. But look, if you get a church full of a lot of “I’s,” you know, and talk about it, you’re not going to have much of the Spirit of God moving. Twice the Bible says, “God resisteth the proud.”
I was thinking about the days back when the Chicago Bulls had all together, what, six championships? I don’t know if we have Michael Jordan fans or enemies here. I’m not really sure, but some of you basketball fans will know the records better than me. I remember the days when Jordan, he had some good players around him, but they weren’t playing like a team. Some of you remember when the Detroit Pistons would always kind of win and push them out; they wouldn’t make it. They had great players, gifted, talented players. Scotty Pippen and Jordan—all six of the championships, they played together, and they and others were on some of those teams. I don’t even know if I should mention this—I’m teasing a little bit—but Dennis Rodman was on the team… I’m joking there a little bit. Some of these other players, those who’ve been around here, you know basketball, you know what I’m alluding to there. But here’s my point: They didn’t win when there were five individuals out there—talented individuals, gifted individuals, great basketball players. They didn’t win when there were five individuals out there. But when they had one team out there, they won, and they couldn’t be beat. And if you get a church that’s got a bunch of “I’s” in there, you’re going to get a church that’s not going to win a whole lot of championships.
The thing that can quench the fire so quickly is “I.” When we get “us” in the middle of all that, and “I” am… Satan would love for us to get a little bit prideful. Hey, Brother of the County Baptist Church, you know, we need a lot of grace. And twice, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Anybody out there like to have some grace? Amen? Oh, I like to have some grace, yeah. And we can have grace, and God wants to give us grace. Jesus has gone through poverty so we can be rich in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but if we’re afraid for—boy, the grace stops, and the resistance starts. Oh, I don’t want that for us.
Pride can put the fire out. You know, God is a jealous God. Exodus chapter number 34 says this. Let me just read it for you: Exodus 34:14, “For thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.” That’s the interesting one to show to Jehovah’s Witnesses, you know. A God whose name is Jealous. That’s what God says. He’s jealous. He’s a jealous Lord. The Bible says one of His names is Jealous. And God doesn’t like to share His glory.
If I get focused on me and my glory, God says, “No, no.” Isaiah 42:8: “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Pretty strong language, yeah. Now, I’m not down on this tonight. I’m not saying we’re doing things wrong, but I’m just saying I would love to have the fire burning. I like to see God work in more lives. Somebody out there, amen? Well, it’s wonderful to see the Lord work in lives. We had some people back today this morning, and they said, “Man, I wouldn’t be here for what God did.” And I’m not talking about Brother Jonathan Grantlin here, but another situation in the hospital—God took care of him. And I said, “We’re going to be in church,” and they look different even this morning. God’s working in their life. And I’m saying, I like to see more of God working like that. If I get more pride in there…
Jesus was amazing. If anybody had the right to flaunt, if you will, it’d be Jesus. But the Bible says He “made himself of no reputation,” humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The apostles were all arguing about who’s going to be the greatest. Remember that? And while they were arguing about who’s going to be the greatest, Jesus was over there, got a towel, girded Himself with a towel. And while they were arguing about who’s going to be the greatest, He said, “Let me wash your feet.” Pretty amazing, Jesus did that.
I’m simply saying it would be wonderful to have more of the fire, and Satan would love to put the fire out. And boy, I think one of his first tools is, “I can just get some pride in there.”
Number two: Lack of Unity. These two kind of go hand in hand. Look over in Psalms 133, if you would please. Psalms chapter number 133. And when you find that, would you say, “Praise the Lord”? We’re finding it. We’re getting it. Psalms 133. Praise the Lord. And we’re going to read the whole chapter. It’s only three verses. We’re good, all right? And you don’t even have to stand on this one. Somebody say amen right there.
Look at this saying in Psalm 133. He says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Here’s this second one. If we want to protect our unity, look how it describes this thing. He says it—this unity—is like the precious ointment upon the head. This is the head of Aaron, the priest, the high priest, and it has to do with his mind, the thoughts. He said it’s like the Holy Spirit, like precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard. The beard’s all around the mouth. The Holy Spirit flowing through our words, making a difference in people’s lives, is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments. He’s talking about the priestly garments. It flowed all the way down to the church. It affected every area. It brought an aroma to every area. When the Spirit of God is working, it changes every facet of someone’s life. It changes every facet of a church when the Spirit is working. That’s what he’s talking about.
And the thing is unity here. Look at the last verse: “As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Now, that dew—if the dew didn’t come, you got wilted brown, I mean just no vegetation, if you will, death. But if the dew is there, it gives it some water, some nutrients. You have life. And when there’s the Spirit of God, there’s life, there’s moving. That’s what I was talking about; you have fruitful ministry when the Spirit of God is working. And watch the thing here: Unity. Unity is so, so very, very important.
You’ve heard of churches fighting over the color of the carpet. How many of you have ever heard about that? Yeah, I’ve heard. You’ve all heard stories. A church would be better off to have the ugliest carpet in the world—puke green color, you know. It’d be better to have puke green carpet and have unity than have the best carpet in the world and the Holy Spirit of God not working there. I’m just saying, and I’m not talking about compromising and lowering the standards of God in the Bible. I’m talking about unity—God’s brethren dwelling together in unity. Oh, the Spirit of God moves when there’s unity.
But the devil, he’s always trying to cause a little bit of non-unity. And this brother or sister saying this about this and this, you know, the devil comes along and he slaps Brother Frank on the back of the head, and then he slaps Brother Warren on the back of the head. He told Brother Frank what Brother Warren did, and he told Brother Warren what Brother Frank did. And they start fighting with each other, and the devil sets back and laughs about it all. That’s just the devil. Because Satan knows the Spirit of God works greatly when there’s unity, and he’s always trying to create this discord among the brethren. In fact, the Bible, over in Proverbs chapter number six, gives that list of six things the Lord hates; yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. Anybody know what the seventh thing is? “He that soweth discord among the brethren.” That’s the one thing God said, “Hey, that right there—I hate those other things, but that one right there is an abomination to Me.” The Spirit of God is quenched when people just don’t want to be in unity. Everybody wants to be a maverick and this and that other, and so often they hinder the unity.
The Spirit of God works when there’s unity. It kind of goes hand in hand with the first point about pride; only by pride comes contention. Can I say this? If we’re not careful, Independent Baptists—praise the Lord, I believe we have some things right. I really do. I believe we have the old King James Bible. I believe we have the Bible in our hands, amen. I believe that. I love it. We’re not going to let the world enter church. We’re not bringing the world’s music and all the rest of that, and we’re not having a rock and roll concert, amen. I’m for all those things. I’m for soul winning and purity and cleanness and holiness. And somebody needs to preach; that’s God’s method. He has chosen the foolishness of preaching. I’m for all those things, amen. But if we’re not careful, knowledge puffeth up. And if we’re not careful, we have these things right—and I believe they are right by the Word of God and the Lord’s leadership—and we’re not changing all those things, but if we’re not careful, we’ll get prideful in our right stance. Can I say? And I don’t know about today, but it seems growing up in the Independent Baptist Church, there has been a lot of fussing and fighting here and there and yonder. Probably anywhere. And maybe sometimes part of that is just we do have some things right. If we’re not careful, we’ll get prideful in that.
Unity is important, friend, and God works where there’s unity. And praise the Lord where God’s people… listen, you get a church that says, “Look, we want to do something for the Lord,” and you get a pastor says, “We want to do something for the Lord.” We’re not about who gets the credit. By the way, praise the Lord for a good church family, but a good church family won’t get the job done. Praise the Lord for a good preacher, but a good preacher won’t get the job done. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ who gets this job done. So we don’t want to be all about the preacher. We don’t want to be all about the church family, how good they are. We want to be all about how good Jesus Christ is. But if you get a church family and a preacher, and you get all that together, and we want to do something for God, we’re not about us and our name; we want to be about souls being saved and lives being changed, and we just want to work to get the job done—man, you got something going right there. That’s what the Lord wants.
I was watching some football highlights, I think it was last night, and I was mourning a little bit. Some of you Tennessee fans out there know what I’m talking about: weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And I was there. But one of the highlights—I don’t know which team it was—but a blocker, man, he paved the way for a running back to make a touchdown. I mean, honestly, Destiny could have ran the football in. Mom, of course, she’s a pretty good football player, so, you know—I’m joking here—but anybody could have ran the football in because the blocker cleared the way. And here’s the thing I watched: The running back, of course, he’s the one carrying the football, and he scores a touchdown, and the blocker really the one that did the work. But the blocker went over, was just so happy they scored a touchdown; man, he was all over the running back, jumping on him. “Man, I scored a touchdown!” Kind of like he did the work, and he’s the one that really did the work. I thought, that guy doesn’t care who gets the credit; he’s just glad they scored a touchdown. And you get a bunch of Christians that just say, “Hey, we just want to do something for the Lord.” God bless that.
Satan, he’d love to put the fire out. He’s just all about that. Now, I’ll be honest with it, there were times when we had everything ready behind the trailer when Dad threw that newspaper out, we didn’t get a fire out of it. We said, “Dad, can you give us some of those matches?” Nope. He said, “You had your chance.” Sometimes the wind or something came along and just blew it out, and that’s it. And I’m saying, Satan would love to just blow the fire out. How does he do it? Get us prideful, get us just fighting with one another. He loves that.
Let me just give two more things here. We’ll go home, stop by McDonald’s and get us a hot fudge sundae or something, maybe, you know. How many want a hot fudge? How many want a caramel sundae? How many want hot fudge? How many want caramel? How many want both? Amen.
Quenching the fire. Look over, if you will, in John 15, John 15, and verse number 26. John 15, God’s Word here. John 15. Look at verse number 26 here. John 15, verse number 26. Look what He says there. Y’all there, amen? Good deal. Here we go, verse number 26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of…” Who’s that? “…of Me—of Jesus.”
Now, one of the main jobs—the Holy Spirit does so many different things—but one of the main jobs of the Holy Spirit, He testifies of Jesus. Remember there in Acts 1:8, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be what?” Witnesses. See, where the Holy Spirit is working, He points people to Jesus Christ.
Now, here’s the thing: That’s one of His main jobs. He came to testify, to point people to Jesus. “No man can come to me, except the Father draw him.” How does He draw them? Through the Spirit of God. By the way, don’t fall for this thing of, “Well, some are, or they didn’t have a decision. God put them in heaven, put them in hell, and they don’t have a decision on them.” “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me,” the Bible says.
But here’s the thing: The Spirit of God, His main thing, He is about witnessing for Jesus Christ. So now, if I don’t want to participate in His main thing—witnessing—I quench the Spirit, because His main thing is about witnessing, telling people about Jesus Christ.
Yesterday, I went to Speedway over here, the gas station right across the interstate from us. And I was going cheap. Do you ever go cheap? Anybody out there? I had those reward things, you know. I don’t like to carry around the cards, but we got where we can put our number in there and all that good stuff. I thought, “Man, I’m going to…” I was heading to the hospital. I said, “I’m going to get me a little bite to eat for free.” So I went over to that little booth over there where you put your email in there and your security code, all that. And sure enough, I got my free fountain drink, any size. That’s good preaching, I tell you what. And I got me a free hot dog. I got one of those big old sausage dogs. That’s what I’m talking about right there. Put some ketchup on there and some mayonnaise on there. Anybody out there put mustard on it? Yeah, all that good stuff. Put whatever you want on there, you know. And I went to the cash register there, a young lady—I don’t know, 20, 25 years old, I don’t know. And the Spirit of God said, “Paul, you ought to give her a tract.” I’m being honest. I was a little embarrassed. I was going so cheap. Well, she’s going to think you’re poor. You got a dime to your name. She’s not going to talk to me. I mean, I just got everything for free and give her a gospel tract? She’s going to think, “Well, this guy’s so cheap.” And I walked away.
Well, I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me many a time over that. I’ve asked the Lord to give that young lady another chance and send another soul winner by there. I missed it. If I’m not careful, I just continually—I don’t want to participate in this witnessing thing. I’ll quench the Spirit, but it’s because He came to testify of Jesus.
Now, there are many different ways of witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, but if I want the fire to be burning, I’ve got to be involved in what the Holy Spirit of God’s involved in, and He’s here to testify of Jesus. Our verse we’ve been using so often with our land and things: “For thou hast but little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” We’ve got to be after this thing of getting the gospel out, telling people about Jesus Christ. Because I like for this fire to continue to burn, and the Spirit of God said, “I’m here to testify of Jesus.”
Some of you have been praying, “Lord, would You put some wind in our sails?” the last couple of months. It seems the Lord is. You know, probably the best thing to do when there’s no wind in our sails is start telling people about Jesus Christ. I mean, just start making much of Jesus. I mean, just start everywhere you go, every chance, just mention the Lord Jesus Christ and tell people about Jesus Christ. And the Spirit—He said, “Hoo-hoo, I’m involved in that right there.”
You know, there’s a ton of dead churches in our world. He said, “Well, they need…” Start telling people about Jesus. We’ve got a ton of churches in 2019 trying to mimic the fire of God by a bunch of rock and roll concerts and all other kind of things you don’t want to talk about. And the best thing they can do is quit all that and start telling people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit gets involved. He’s here to testify of Jesus. If I don’t cooperate, if I don’t be a part of that thing, I can quench the fire. And it’s exciting to see Him work. I like to see more of that.
I would say four ways just kind of for the wind to put the fire out: Pride, no unity, not witnessing. John Rice. Brother Dillon gave me some pictures. I love them right before church. There’s John Rice. Great preacher. He’s in heaven now. I love these pictures Brother Dillon gave me.
John Rice told his story. He was preaching somewhere in Southwest Texas, and a young lady wasn’t sure of her salvation. She was afraid she wasn’t saved. She had no joy, no happiness, no assurance. And her husband said, “No, no, no, no. If anybody is saved, my wife is saved.” He was just shocked about it. Her father-in-law even said, “No, she’s a Christian.” It was hard to figure out.
John Rice got up and preached. He preached about witnessing, winning souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Spirit of God spoke to her. She came and got things right. She said, “You know, years ago we lived in the country. Out there, I told everybody about Jesus. Man, I just loved it! I was like a bird singing everywhere I went, just having a great time, just telling everybody about Jesus.”
She said, “Well, we moved to the city not too long ago, a year or so ago. And I was intimidated by the city folk. Now I’m just a country lady, and my boldness was gone, and I haven’t witnessed anymore. I got intimidated, very self-conscious.” She said, “I remember I used to argue with the Spirit of God. And it got quieter and quieter. And it quit.” She said, “You know, that’s when I lost my joy. That’s when I lost my happiness, my assurance.” She said, “I’m going to dedicate myself to get back to listening to the Holy Spirit, getting involved. And I just want to start witnessing.” John Rice said her assurance came back. Her joy came back. Her song came back. The Spirit of God, the fire came back. Oh, we don’t want to quench the fire.
Number four: Indifference. How do we quench? So often, so many different ways, but so often we quench—I quench the Spirit just by my indifference to the Spirit of God. Do I seek the Spirit of God’s leadership?
Look over in John, chapter number 16, John 16, verse number 13. John 16:13, an amazing verse here. John 16, verse number 13. And He says there, “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Wow, that’s amazing. He’s your guide. He’ll guide you into all truth.
Look at John 14:26. Look over there, if you will. John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Now look, I’m saying the Holy Spirit, He is called to be a guide. He’ll teach you, guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit of God, He does those things. And now, am I, or are we, so tuned into ourselves that we’re not listening to the Spirit of God? Am I listening? Am I seeking for His leadership?
Nothing like being ignored. Does anybody like to be ignored? No. And the Holy Spirit of God doesn’t like it either. Sometimes I’m just so caught up in my opinion and my thing and what do I want to do, and the Holy Spirit of God says, “All right, you don’t need Me. I’ll just go my way.” Now, He’ll never leave us; He has sealed us to the day of redemption. But His leadership and His power and His anointing—the fire—the Holy Spirit is not a bully. He doesn’t force His way on you.
I heard about an older preacher. A younger preacher said, “I need your advice.” He said, “I’ll take you to lunch; I’ll pay for your lunch.” So they went out together. The older preacher—I heard him talk about it at a conference—he said, “I went to lunch.” He said the younger preacher would say a couple of things, and he’d try to give advice, but he wouldn’t listen to it. He said, “It went on long enough that I realized, ‘Hey, praise the Lord, I’ll take a free lunch out of it, but that young man’s not listening to what I say.’ I just ate my food and went on.”
And the Holy Spirit does the same thing. I’m just indifferent, so wrapped up in my opinion of my… amen, I don’t have time to listen and seek the leadership of the Spirit. Get in the habit of seeking the Holy Spirit’s leadership in everything. Everything. I wish I saw more—I’m so far behind. I like to know His voice better, understand it, and listen to it more, because He will guide you into all truth.
You can’t follow the Holy Spirit while you’re following yourself at the same time. That’s why Proverbs says, “Lean not unto thine own understanding.” See, I’m seeking the Holy Spirit’s leadership. I want to make an impact in people’s lives. How do I do it? Spirit of God. Spirit of God.
How many of you have a Scofield Bible? How many have a C. I. Scofield Bible, either with you or you use it? C. I. Scofield made a lot of notes. A lot of them are wonderful, not all of them. They’re not the Bible, but good notes, good study help. C. I. Scofield was a lawyer in St. Louis. A young friend, Tom McFeeder, an unashamed Christian, came to his office. He was about to leave Scofield’s office. He had his hand on the door, about to leave, and the Lord had been speaking to him, the Holy Spirit had been. Before he left, he spoke up. He said, “For a long time, I’ve been wanting to ask you a question. I’ve been afraid to ask you, but I’m going to go ahead and ask you now.”
Scofield said, “I never thought you were afraid. You’re not that kind of guy. What’s your question?” He said, “I want to ask you why you are not a Christian.” Scofield was staggered by it. He answered thoughtfully, and he said this: “Does not the Bible say something about drunkards having no place in heaven? I’m a hard drinker.” This, of course, was way before Schofield was saved.
The man said, “You have not answered my question. Why are you not a Christian?” And he said, “Well, I’ve always been a nominal Episcopalian, you know. But I do not recall ever having been shown just how to be a Christian. I don’t know how.” Tom McFeeder pulled his New Testament out and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ: death, burial, resurrection, and that He had died for his sins and was to save him. And he said, “Now will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?” Schofield said, “I’m going to think about it.” And Tom McFeeder said, “No, you’re not. You’ve been thinking about it all your life. Will you settle it now? Will you believe on Christ now and be saved?”
Schofield stood silent for a moment, in deep thought, then turning, he looked at his friend full in the face and said, “I will.” And he got on his knees and asked Jesus Christ to be his Savior. He became a great Christian. And so many Christians—that’s what I got. I’ve used it for years. So many helpful notes in there. It was by Tom McFeeder allowing the Spirit of God to speak, and he listened to him.
Many a time, that fire got going. I don’t know. I can’t remember if we had marshmallows. I’m sure we did sometimes. I remember just around that little fireplace, just our little homemade one out in the backyard. Hey, it’s a blessing when the Spirit of God moves. It’s exciting. My old flesh will get in the way of the second. I want that. Let’s quench not the Spirit.
Lord, thank You for Your blessing on our church. Lord, we realize if any good thing happens, it’s not us. I’ll mess it all up. Lord, I can’t even tie my shoe without You. Any good thing that happens is from You. Lord, we’re appreciative of Your moving, Your working. The auditorium was full this morning. People just talk about how You’re moving in their hearts. It’s a blessing, Lord. Father, would You continue to work? Lord, would You thwart Satan’s plans to get involved in quenching the Spirit? Holy Spirit, would You continue to work in our midst? We need You, we want You, we love You. We want to yield and listen to You. Have Your will and Your way in the invitation tonight. Well, thank You, Lord, for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
We serve a mighty God. He’s able to melt the hardest of hearts. He’s able to save to the uttermost. Recently I had a man; he said, “I’m an overdose survivor from heroin. I’m getting clean.” God does those things. God does those things. We want to see more of God working, more of God changing lives. Let’s just say, “Lord, we are hungry for You to move. We want to see Your moving more.” Would you let Him know of us? We’ll sing another verse. You just let me know that we are hungry for Your working in our lives, our church. Let me know that.
So glad you’re in church tonight. Great to have some folk back on a Sunday night. What a blessing. That’s exciting, and I’m thrilled to see everybody in the House of the Lord. And praise God for this moving. Let’s just pray You continue to move in our hearts and our lives and use us together for His glory and honor. And good to have our guests back here. That’s great. And I appreciate you coming back with us. That’s a blessing. Praise the Lord for it. We appreciate it so very much.
And good to see everybody out tonight. Isn’t it amazing? Brother John Casey, you’ve got to ask if you haven’t seen, let him show you the picture of the car that rear-ended him. A picture shows a thousand words. I mean, just you see that, you’ll be like, “Wow.” It’s amazing he got out and walked after that. Just the Lord. The only way he can explain it. If you haven’t seen that picture, you’ve got to see it. And he’s in church and walking around, doing good. And he says he’s a little sore, but he says it wasn’t with the car accident; that’s why he’s sore. No, I’m teasing, of course. But really, it’s a miracle. It really is. You see that picture, it’s a miracle. And praise the Lord, the Lord took care of Brother John. What a blessing. And praise the Lord.
Original File: Quench not the Spirit - Pastor Paul Chisgar 92219